Abe Lincoln's Ghost reads Stephen Colbert his very Trump-y Gettysburg Address first draft

Abe Lincoln&#039;s Ghost visits Stephen Colbert

(Image credit: Late Show)

published 25 October 2016

Hillary Clinton is clearly winning this election because she has already declared that after three debates, she no longer has to respond to Donald Trump's attacks, Stephen Colbert said on Monday's Late Show. "Yes, Hillary says she's not giving any thought to what Donald Trump says, so that makes both of them now." This gave Colbert a crazy idea: "Trump clearly feeds on attention, so this might work. By denying it to him, we can starve him out. So I pledge, I pledge right now I will spend the rest of the monologue not talking about Donald Trump."

That vow lasted for maybe 30 seconds. Then Colbert turned to Trump's big speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, which started out strong enough, with talk of healing a divided nation. "It's true: America is divided between those who think Trump will lose because the election is rigged, and those who think he'll lose because it is not," Colbert said, noting that after about 45 seconds, Trump launched into a diatribe against the women who have accused him of groping and other unwanted sexual advances.

"I can't believe that he would go to Gettysburg and give a speech that was so far from the spirit of the Gettysburg Address," Colbert said. "It is just ridiculous." The ghost of Abraham Lincoln appeared and told Colbert he was wrong, that Trump's speech was actually very similar to the first draft of his famous address. "My advisers made me tone it down, would you like to hear of it?" Lincoln's Ghost said. And you know, the ghost of Abe Lincoln was right: That first draft did have a notable Trumpian quality to it. Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.